Premier League Preview – Week 8

Tottenham v Chelsea

Spurs host leaders Chelsea this Saturday in the lunch time kick off and it is shaping up to be a cracker. There is no love lost between these two sides as Chelsea’s Champions League victory denied Spurs a place in this year’s Champions League and Andre Villas Boas will have a point to make to his previous employers. Tottenham go into this match with four league wins in a row, including at Old Trafford, while Chelsea haven’t lost a game all season. For Spurs, Scott Parker, Younes Kaboul and Benoit Assou-Ekotto are injured while Adebayor is struggling to find his fitness. For Chelsea, captain John Terry will not feature as he starts his ban.

Fulham v Aston Villa

The visitors approach this game knowing that it has been their worst ever start to a Premier League campaign and they will be looking to improve on that at Craven Cottage. They will have a tough task though as at Craven Cottage Fulham FC have won 9 of their last 13 Premier League games there and only lost twice. Although Villa have failed to score in five of their last seven games, I still expect goals in this game as all seven of Fulham’s league games this year have had over 2.5 goals and are vulnerable from set pieces.

Liverpool v Reading

The last time Reading visited Anfield in January 2010, they came away with a win as they triumphed 2-1 in an FA Cup replay and it was also Brian McDermott’s first ever win as manager of Reading. There’s quite a bit of history between these two managers as McDermott took over at Reading from Brendan Rodgers as he left to manage Swansea, the two last met in the Championship play-off final 2010-11 when Rodgers’ Swansea got promoted at McDermott’s Reading’s expense. Liverpool are another team who are massively underachieving and they sit just 3 points ahead of Reading after 7 games. Liverpool have won just two of 13 Premier League games at home in 2012, drawing five and losing six.

Manchester United v Stoke

2nd place Manchester United host 12th place Stoke City at the “Theatre of Dreams” and United look to win back the Premier League title from their neighbours. Talisman Robin Van Persie will be eager to keep up his record of six goals in five games against the Potters while Michael Owen will be looking to prove a point against the team where he made just 6 starts in 3 seasons. The odds will heavily be in Man United’s favour as Stoke have won none of their last 13 Premier League games, scoring only six goals.

Swansea v Wigan

Both teams start this game with exactly the same amount of points after 7 games this season, as they did after 7 games last season; Swansea being on 8 points and Wigan on 5. All of Swansea’s 12 goals this season have come from open play and their front man Michu has a superb goal ratio with 5 goals from just seven shots this season. Swansea will think this will be one of their easier games at The Liberty Stadium this season whereas Wigan will be sure to be a tough test.

West Brom v Manchester City

This game sees the current Premier League Champions travel to the Hawthorns to play a much improved West Brom side under the management of Steve Clark. West Brom are 6th in table after achieving 14 points from 7 games so far this season, they will be on a high and confident that they can get something from the English Champions. Manchester City, just a point ahead of West Brom, will also be looking to keep up their form to continue their campaign to win another league title. In form City defender, Kolorov, has scored 3 goals in his last 4 appearances in all competitions while striker Carlos Tevez has scored five goals in four Premier League appearances against West Brom. On paper, the punters will favour City but no one should write off the Baggies.

West Ham v Southampton

West Ham are enjoying the best start to the season out of the newly promoted sides with 11 points from seven games although you might argue they’ve had a slightly easier run of games. The Saints have only picked up 4 points this term, with only one win, after Nigel Adkins men pipped the Hammers into an automatic promotion place last season in the Championship. In last season’s results in the Championship, Southampton beat West Ham at home and then drew with them at Upton Park; they will be confident they can replicate this form and pick up some points. West Ham are without Ricardo Vaz Te who is out for eight weeks with a dislocated shoulder he suffered in the 3-1 defeat to Arsenal.

Norwich v Arsenal

Saturday’s late kick off sees The Canaries host The Gooners at Carrow Road as both sides desperately need the points at this early stage of the season. Norwich are in the relegation spots and are in need of some more points on the board where as on the other hand Arsenal need to keep the pressure on the teams above them and don’t want to fall behind at this point of the season. Norwich have won just one of their last 12 Premier League games where as Arsenal have lost just one of their last 12 Premier League games and haven’t lost to Norwich in their last 11 meetings in all competitions.

When these two met in March there was fighting spirit both on the pitch and on the sidelines as Alan Pardew and Martin O’Neill exchanged heated words with each other. On the pitch there were a total of nine yellow cards and two red cards in the battle of the north east. Shola Ameobi will be eagerly anticipating this fixture as he has scored seven Premier League goals against Sunderland including a late equaliser back in March. The atmosphere among both sets of fans will be electric as both teams will look to get the 3 points.

QPR v Everton

The big spending QPR have a lot to improve on as they are currently bottom of the Premier League and many would say they are massively under achieving especially considering the team they posses. They will need to improve on their home form as they have only scored three goals in their last five games there and Mark Hughes has only enjoyed two victories in 13 Premier League meetings with David Moyes. Everton will be up for this game and will definitely think they can take advantage of QPR’s poor form, they are without main man Fellaini but they still have enough quality to handle Queens Park.